VORONIN TO INTRODUCE CONSTITUTIONAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CHISINAU 000375

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/UMB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/20/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KDEM MD
SUBJECT: VORONIN TO INTRODUCE CONSTITUTIONAL
CHANGES, ASKS USG FOR INDEPENDENT MEDIA COMMISSION

Classified by: Ambassador Asif J. Chaudhry for
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: In a May 18 meeting with
President Voronin to discuss the current political
situation, the Ambassador also raised the
importance of taking action to turn around the
damage done to Moldova's world image by human
rights violations following the April 7 events.
Voronin and the Ambassador agreed on creating an
independent media commission (with U.S. and
possibly EU experts) to make recommendations on
how to achieve true media freedom.


2. (C) Voronin believed that Mrs. Greceanii would
be elected President and thought it possible that
Urechean and his AMN party might defect from the
opposition to vote with PCRM. Voronin will ensure
a strict 60-40 proportional distribution of seats
and committee chairs according to opposition
representation in the parliament. Voronin plans
to introduce constitutional amendments to
strengthen Moldova as a Parliamentary system.
These changes would involve strengthening the
Prime Minister, while weakening the President.
End Summary

Electing a President: Urechean to Defect?
--------------


3. (C) In a May 18 meeting President Voronin
discussed with Ambassador Chaudhry (accompanied by
Pol/Econ Chief) the prospects for PCRM's
candidate, the outgoing Prime Minister Mrs.
Zinaida Greceanii, to be elected as president. He
hinted at the possibility of coming to a deal with
Urechean's party. He explained that the
opposition was divided into two parts --
Chirtoaca's Liberal Party and Filat's Liberal
Democratic Party (which were both "absolutely
controlled by Romania") and Urechean's Moldova
Noastra party (AMN) (which was "autonomous" and
could take independent decisions). Having aligned
himself with the declarations of the other two
parties, Urechean was now in a bind. Voronin
claimed to have information from sources within
the AMN suggesting that they wanted to break out
of this alignment, but did not know how.


4. (C) Voronin believed that the majority of AMN's
11 MPs opposed repeat Parliamentary elections.
However, the AMN reps feared that if they were to
go over to PCRM side, they would repeat the Rosca
scenario (which ended up with Rosca losing his
electorate's support to charges of "treason" and
not making it into the next parliament). Voronin
laid nine-to-one odds that if there were repeat
Parliamentary elections, Urechean's party would
not pass the six percent threshold. Voronin said
he underlined that he would not take any illegal
measures to attract someone from another party.
In case Urechean's party did decide to change
positions, it would be better, opined Voronin, for
all members to take part in this decision. The
AMN could then play an intermediary role between
the Party of Communists and the opposition
parties.

Cooperating with Opposition in Parliament
--------------


5. (C) Voronin claimed that he was ready to work
constructively with the opposition. He noted that
he was organizing all bodies in the parliament
according to the principle of representation, i.e.
in a 60-40 proportion. This ratio would hold
for membership in committees (including the
important ones),committee chairmanship seats, and
the Permanent Bureau. Voronin said that as
Speaker he would guarantee that there would be no
discrimination in Parliament on the grounds of
party membership

Constitutional Changes; Parliamentary System
--------------


6. (C) Voronin said that as Speaker he would work
to create a "true Parliamentary Republic" in
Moldova. He said that this would necessitate
changes to the Constitution. Voronin planned to

CHISINAU 00000375 002 OF 003


strengthen the institutions of the Parliament and
the Government (i.e. Prime Minister) while
weakening the powers of the President.


7. (C) Voronin explained the methodology for
carrying out these changes, noting that in case
the amendments did not have the necessary support
in parliament, they would be voted on in a
national referendum. (Note: Articles 141-143 of
the Constitution explain the procedures for
amending the constitution. To pass in Parliament,
a constitutional amendment must receive a two-
thirds majority, i.e. 68 votes or, it may be
passed by a simple majority in a popular
referendum in which more than three-fifths of
those on the voter lists participate. End Note)

Need to Fix Negative Image of Moldova
--------------


8. (C) The Ambassador stressed that many of the
GOM actions since April 7 have created a very
negative impression of Moldova in the United
States and in Europe. The Ambassador noted that
after April 7 stories had traveled around the
world about the arrests and how detainees were
abused in prison. There were reports of how the
press was put under pressure and that in the last
few weeks, there were reports of NGO harassment,
forcing them to provide information on their
membership and financing. All of these actions
had creating a negative impression and damaged the
image of Moldova. If Moldova wanted to develop in
a pro-Western direction, this bad image needed to
be fixed by ensuring greater respect for human
rights and greater media freedoms.


9. (C) The Ambassador's remarks struck just the
right chord, because Voronin replied with
conviction that this was "very correct" and
"absolutely true." The Ambassador expressed his
readiness to work with Voronin and the new
government to help create an atmosphere where we
could truly say that the media was operating
freely and that NGOs and civil society were
working freely. This would create a positive
image for Moldova (and for Voronin as a leader),
argued the Ambassador.

Creation of an Independent Media Commission
--------------


10. (C) A discussion of media issues ensued in
which Voronin discussed the very open criticisms
of the GOM in opposition newspapers and argued
that he had never received any document proving
the fact that any newspapers had their freedom of
expression limited. In response to the
Ambassador's list of incidents of press
harassment, Voronin suggested an independent
committee of foreign experts to analyze the
current situation with respect to press freedom.
The Ambassador agreed that this would be
worthwhile to show the world that President
Voronin and the GOM were not afraid of a free
press.


11. (C) The Ambassador proposed that he would try
to find the funding to bring experts here for to
analyze the situation and make recommendations to
the GOM on how to achieve a truly free press.
Voronin was very pleased with this plan, said
"Super!! Ideal" and made the sign of the cross, an
Orthodox religious gesture meant to demonstrate
his sincerity about this plan. The Ambassador
agreed to
look for ways to bring experts for this study,
suggesting the possibility for forming this media
commission with participation of EU experts.

Voronin on NGOs
--------------


12. (C) Voronin was less forthcoming on NGO
freedoms than he had been on media. He noted that
Moldova had 26,000 NGOs registered, which he
thought was "absolutely too many." He claimed
that thousands of millions of Euros were being
laundered through European structures in support
of these NGOs. The Ambassador explained how

CHISINAU 00000375 003 OF 003


pressure on the NGOs involved in the elections
events had contributed to the negative impression
of Moldova that needed to be fixed. Voronin said
that some NGOs had been used to launder money
through Moldova and he had been working without
success to ensure that money that entered the
country went through the national treasury to
avoid such possibilities. The Ambassador assured
the President that any money that entered the
country for MCC would remain under his personal
control.

Moldova's Future
--------------


13. (C) President Voronin said that his vision for
Moldova's future would be outlined at the
Parliament in Mrs. Greceanii's speech before the
elections on May 20. She would outline five
dimensions for the future of Moldova. Most
important for the GOM would be the overarching
principle of continuity of development of
democratic reforms moving forward towards the
goals of European integration. He expressed
satisfaction with his recent contacts with high-
level European leaders, noting that he now had
telephone contacts with Solana each week.


14. (C) Comment: We had already speculated that
as Speaker, Voronin would seek to reshuffle the
deck in regard to the distribution of power
between the President, the Prime Minister and the
Speaker. While he talked about strengthening the
post of the Prime Minister, it is likely that
these changes will push the pendulum towards the
Speaker as the center of power in the Moldovan
government. His comment confirmed that he has
projected plans to accomplish this by introducing
constitutional changes. Though Voronin assumes
that the PCRM will eventually succeed in getting
Mrs. Greceanii elected as President, he
acknowledged that this might not happen on the
first round on May 20. The PCRM still has a long
way to go in coming to an agreement with the
opposition on working together in the new
parliament. It is ironic that Voronin is now
pushing a reform such as the 60-40 proportional
balance in parliament that he never would have
countenanced as President. Even more ironic is
his willingness to change the country's
constitution to suit his own needs, keeping the
presidency strong when it is his post, and
shifting the power to the parliament and the
government, once he was elected as Speaker.

CHAUDHRY